Heart-Centred Goal Setting

I’ve talked before about the importance of breaking your big dream into smaller milestones and action steps. This gives you a kind of roadmap to follow as you work towards your greater vision. Something to keep in mind when you start working on your plan, though, is to use heart-centred goal setting: always keep in mind what each step means to you – not just the big picture. Tying everything that you do – every action step you take – into that underlying meaning will help you to maintain your focus and keep working towards the bigger goal.

It is not enough to take steps which may someday lead to a goal; each step must be itself a goal and a step likewise. ~Goethe

Remember that all the things and experiences we want in life are really just that – things and experiences. In and of themselves, they are meaningless and have no real value. It’s not about the goal it’s about what you want to feel when you get there. Everything comes back to that core principle – what does it mean and how do you want to feel?

It’s fairly easy to understand this concept when we’re dealing with money, because it’s never about the money, it’s about what you think the money can do for you. Whether it’s security, freedom, fun or whatever… when you think you want money, what you really want are the feelings that you believe that having that money will bring you.

This same concept applies to everything else you want in life, too. If you want to be a movie star, for example, why is that? What will “being a movie star” do for you? What are the feelings that you associate with “being a movie star”? What would it mean to you to “be a movie star”?

Once you’re clear on the meaning and core feelings behind your goal, it’s a matter of finding ways to feel like that right now, in whatever way you can. (And just so we’re clear on this point, this does not mean that you should go out and max your credit cards so you can “feel rich”.) Find little ways to feel those core feelings in your everyday life.

If it’s freedom that you associate with your goal then find ways of feeling free. Go for a walk on a windy day and let your hair blow loose. Book a day off work and go play golf, or even just go grocery shopping in the middle of the day when it’s not so busy, just because you’re free to do so. Do something different from your ordinary routine just to shake things up a bit and feel that freedom.

Likewise, when you set your goals and your milestones take some time to think about what each of them means to you – your action items are not just individual steps closer to the bigger achievement. They are achievements in and of themselves. Each step that you take towards your bigger dream has meaning in and of itself. Within each step should lie the feelings that you are looking for in the bigger goal. This is heart-centred goal setting; finding the very personal meaning and feelings at the core of the dream and working from that.

LOL! Ever since I first saw that movie, I always wondered why he didn’t just pitch some dirt or rocks out there first to test whether or not there was anything there! I’m all for leaps of faith when it comes to building your dreams, but I don’t think even I could handle one that big. (For those who didn’t click the link, we’re talking about the scene from Indiana Jones where he steps out into thin air onto the invisible bridge.)